Mayor Cory Booker: Devils owner let Newark down

Used to work in Newark, Gateway Plaza. Had to take the train home past midnight on a few occasions. Newark Penn Station is a pretty creepy place at that time. Would also go out for smoke breaks and get harassed every so often. (The same homeless woman would come up to me and demand five dollars for a train ticket.)

Still, it has absolutely zero to do with whether I would or would not go to a game, and I imagine that's the same for 99 percent of the potential market of potential ticket buyers.

New York Penn Station and the surrounding area has just as many panhandlers, but it hasn't stopped people from selling out the Garden on virtually every night.

And really, what would you propose Mayor Booker do about the homelessness problems in Newark. You can build all the shelters you want, but, legally, you can't force anyone to stay there. He could have the most ingenious plan to revitalize Newark, including having Google, Facebook and Apple relocate their headquarters there, and you'd still have the same amount of homeless people.

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I’ve never publicly criticized someone as I did Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek last week. To some, this seemed out of character, especially because I’m one of those who believe the over-the-top way we talk to each other in our democracy often undermines our ability to solve complicated problems and advance toward common aspirations. Thus, I feel I owe it to our community to further explain why I believe my comments were warranted.

My anger isn’t simply about the arbitrators’ decision. The courts will eventually decide the revenue dispute and hopefully rectify what was never anyone’s intention: that the city should be paying more to Vanderbeek than Vanderbeek is sharing in direct revenue with the city. Instead, my outrage with him is centered on the public commitments he made to our city.

No matter what your political inclination is, you have to say that for a mayor of one of America's largest cities to come out publicly like this it must mean something. I don't know the details, but VBK must be an absolute scum bag for Booker to do this. Think of it, would Booker commit political suicide for something inconsequential and irrelevant- I think not.

No matter what your political inclination is, you have to say that for a mayor of one of America's largest cities to come out publicly like this it must mean something. I don't know the details, but VBK must be an absolute scum bag for Booker to do this. Think of it, would Booker commit political suicide for something inconsequential and irrelevant- I think not.

No matter what your political inclination is, you have to say that for a mayor of one of America's largest cities to come out publicly like this it must mean something. I don't know the details, but VBK must be an absolute scum bag for Booker to do this. Think of it, would Booker commit political suicide for something inconsequential and irrelevant- I think not.

Don't be such homers guys, think outside the rink for a moment...

Politicians often commit political suicide doing stupid things, this appears to be one of those times, if that's you're view.

I don't think this is political suicide though, I think it's calculated to make himself look like the little guy fighting for Newark against the big baddies.

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Your unconditional rejection of violence makes you smugly think of yourselves as noble, as enlightened, but in reality it is nothing less than abject moral capitulation to evil. Unconditional rejection of self-defense, because you think its a supposed surrender to violence, leaves you no resort but begging for mercy or offering appeasement.

-Terry Goodkind

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The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

I've been a STH for three seasons now and take the train every game. Not once from Penn Station through Gateway and around any area around the building have I ever felt uneasy or pestered by anyone.

I've gone myself or with family and its been the same. We take in the enjoyment and don't worry what others do.

Ill say it again this time on a message board. Its the suburbanites who live in their little bedroom community "shell". NJ is full of upper middle class white families who are ridiculously ignorant and afraid of their own shadows.

Amen brother. Some of NJ's middle/upper class families frown upon the suffering and bad fortune of a few pan handlers in Newark, while some of their kids or even their own spouses snort lines and do drugs in the comfort of their own basements - but hey, that's not a crime right?

Unreal. Be generous. Give a few bucks and keep moving. It's no big deal.

FWIW, I've heard theories that Booker is seizing the opportunity to jump on the "99%" political jargon bandwagon, pitting himself against a Wall Street "1%" bad guy like Vanderbeek in an effort to further endear himself to downtrodden Newark residents. Again, take it FWIW, but as far as theories go, I've heard worse.

Political suicide? How many times was Sharp James indicted and not only kept being reelected mayor but also a state senator at the same time. In fact this type of angling by Booker only aids his position in angling himself as the mayor fighting for his city against "fat cat" sports. His constituents are gullible enough to buy it.

The homeless thing again? Every city has homeless people, and they aren't just in the "bad" areas. I've never seen more than when I was in San Antonio a few years back to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk. MSG is surrounded by them and a ton of them are whacked out on crack. The Vegas Strip, the French Quarter in New Orleans, Beale Street in Memphis ... all their cities' crown jewels of tourism, and all crawling with homeless people. Hell, a co-worker of mine just came back from Honolulu and said he's never seen more homeless people in his entire life. Honolulu!

Homeless people are in every city. We now have an arena in a city. Either deal with it, or take the Gateway.

No matter what your political inclination is, you have to say that for a mayor of one of America's largest cities to come out publicly like this it must mean something. I don't know the details, but VBK must be an absolute scum bag for Booker to do this. Think of it, would Booker commit political suicide for something inconsequential and irrelevant- I think not.

Don't be such homers guys, think outside the rink for a moment...

So an independent arbiter ruling for JVB means nothing?

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"The Devils have high standards, that's the difference. We have a standard to live up to every year, and a couple of teams in our area don't have the standards we do." - Pat Burns

The New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cups everywhere:-NHL record for most road wins in the playoffs - 10-1 in '95 and 10-2 in '00-NHL record for most home wins in the playoffs - 12-1 in '03

I know this thread started as being relevant to the Devils and everything but... this thread is drifting further and further and further away from the Devils / Hockey. Maybe it's in the wrong forum at this point, or maybe I'm off base... just my opinion.

I know this thread started as being relevant to the Devils and everything but... this thread is drifting further and further and further away from the Devils / Hockey. Maybe it's in the wrong forum at this point, or maybe I'm off base... just my opinion.

That's the problem...it is a Devil related issue that's happening, at least in part for political reasons. There's really little separating the two issues on this one. Just so long as the extreme elements on both sides don't turn it into a they suck, no you suck thread the way the last post kind of did.

Edited by NJDevs4978, 10 April 2012 - 02:33 PM.

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"The Devils have high standards, that's the difference. We have a standard to live up to every year, and a couple of teams in our area don't have the standards we do." - Pat Burns

The New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cups everywhere:-NHL record for most road wins in the playoffs - 10-1 in '95 and 10-2 in '00-NHL record for most home wins in the playoffs - 12-1 in '03

That's the problem...it is a Devil related issue that's happening, at least in part for political reasons. There's really little separating the two issues on this one. Just so long as the extreme elements on both sides don't turn it into a they suck, no you suck thread the way the last post kind of did.

I hear ya. I'll just keep my happy ass out of the thread and leave the more politically inclined folks to discuss.

Imagine if someone outside the Prudential Center was hurt in the next few weeks before or after a game because of this selfish act he just pulled?

Then he'll take the blame for it and will be publicly humiliated. But I think you guys aren't getting the whole story. Someone posted this on nj.com:

Everyone read the news article carefully--the City is not removing the Police at the Arena on game days...just removing the Police whose role was literally to stand in front of the Arena on Mulberry and make sure people didnt drive down it when it was blocked off. Not blocked off...no need for additional security. They should have done this long ago. The traffic on the adjacent streets is horrible on game days because of the loss of Mulberry as an exit out of the city for the downtown office workers.

^7^ is just defending his sport sheeps.. as Alcibiades the exiled Athenian rationalizes in his speech to the enemy Spartans, he wants to take revenge on Athens because he loves it and can't stand to see the state it's in now - Triumph

I've been a STH for three seasons now and take the train every game. Not once from Penn Station through Gateway and around any area around the building have I ever felt uneasy or pestered by anyone.

I've gone myself or with family and its been the same. We take in the enjoyment and don't worry what others do.

Ill say it again this time on a message board. Its the suburbanites who live in their little bedroom community "shell". NJ is full of upper middle class white families who are ridiculously ignorant and afraid of their own shadows.

Great post and the bottom paragraph is ridiculously true.. I remember in 8th grade my baseball team had to go play in the Ironbound.. You wouldn't believe how many parents freaked out citing "drugs and violence" as a way of trying to get the game canceled.. Many of the mothers hadn't even left western Essex county in years.. Years!!!

These are the same parents who were popping their "legally prescribed" pain killers and getting drunk in their homes.. So easy to put themselves on a pedestal.. It's disgusting how racist and hypocritical some suburbanites can be..

Just read NJ.com next time something pro-Newark gets written.. You'll vomit from the "I don't go to Newark because I'll get shot or my children will be kidnapped and raped" comments

Booker was on NPR today and discussed the matter a bit. As far as pulling back police presence he said there will be 6 less officers and Mulberry st. will no longer be shut down. He said this is something they had planned on doing for some time. Booker said he is not mad about the ruling of the arbitrators and understands that it is legal stuff that will work itself out. He is mad because apparently Mr. Vanderbeek made some promises back in 2004-2007 that he has not kept. However, I think it is important to note that those promises were made before the economic collapse which has hurt the Devils and undoubtedly Mr. Vanderbeek as well. It could just be the case that the organization and Jeff do not currently have the means to fulfill those promises. Below is the article which includes a link to the audio.